1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a terminal fitting for which a lance, by which the terminal fitting is prevented from falling out of a cavity of a connector housing, protrudes from the outside surface of a terminal body.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 6 is a perspective view which shows the construction of a terminal fitting 100 disclosed in JP-A-10-40996.
The terminal fitting 100 includes a terminal body 110 which is formed by press molding a metal plate, and a lance 120 which protrudes from the outside surface of the terminal body 110.
The terminal body 110 has a terminal engaging part 111 at the front end side. The terminal engaging part 111 has a rectangular pipe shape to which a male terminal which is a connecting counterpart is fitted.
The lance 120 is so formed integrally with the terminal engaging part 11 that the lance 120 may be elastically displaced into the terminal engaging part 111 and protrudes from the outside surface of the terminal engaging part 111.
In particular, the lance 120 in the illustrated example is formed by cutting and raising a part of a first outer wall plate part 112 which is an upper side outer wall of the terminal engaging part 111 so that the lance 120 protrudes from the outer surface of the first outer wall plate part 112. The lance 120 is a belt-form protruding piece which obliquely extends from the front end side of the terminal engaging part 111 toward the back end side.
When the terminal fitting 100 in the illustrated example is inserted into a cavity (a terminal insertion hole) of a connector housing (not shown in the figure), the lance 120 enters into a retaining recess formed in the cavity and is prevented from falling out of the cavity.
In JP-A-2002-280106 and JP-A-2002-93508, the following techniques are disclosed. To prevent that the back end edge of the lance, which obliquely extends from the front end side of the terminal engaging part to the back end side as described above, from being deformed outward by an external force, a lance regulating mean (an inner side plate 19 in JP-A-2002-280106 and an engaging hole 41 of a protecting wall 36 in JP-A-2002-93508 correspond to the lance regulating means) is provided to engage with the lance to regulate the lance from being displaced outward.